“We don’t sell franchises - we recruit franchise owners”

Franchising is a long term commitment for both parties – not simply a sale of a franchise.

Bluebird Care now has in excess of 100 franchise territories throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland and has a well-honed franchise recruitment system.

“The proof of any franchise recruitment system is how successful franchise owners within that franchise become” continues Simon. “We have some exceptionally successful franchise owners, so we must be doing something right!”Recruitment starts with attracting the right sort of enquiries from the right sort of marketing. Those enquiries need to be then dealt with in a professional way – right from the start, Bluebird Care vets the enquiries to establish the genuine enquiry from those just ‘looking around’.

First impressions are important for both parties. From the prospective franchise owner view, they will judge how their enquiry was dealt with and the interest shown in them by the franchisor. From the franchisor’s point of view they will judge the interest shown from the prospective franchise owner, their personality, skills etc. Early on both should start to evaluate whether the business is right for them or not.

The prospective franchise owner needs to judge whether there is a genuine recruitment system in place – is the franchisor prepared to turn people down for the franchise, if they do not consider them suitable for the business.

“Right from launching the franchise, at Bluebird Care we have prided ourselves on selecting franchise owners who we believe will be successful in the business. Our very first franchise owner, for example, has a flourishing business with two franchise territories,” concludes Simon.